


Love, Reo

by HomeForImaginaryFriends



Series: KuroDai Week 2017 [9]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Fluff, KuroDai Week, Light Angst, M/M, Road Trips, kurdai week 2017
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 06:41:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10893843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HomeForImaginaryFriends/pseuds/HomeForImaginaryFriends
Summary: There are defining moments in everyone's life.  Sawamura Daichi had two in one night.  The time he kissed Kuroo Tetsurou and the one were his brother fell ill.





	Love, Reo

  
  
  


Everyone has defining moments.  Those events that a person can pinpoint in their life, big universe changing points.  There are things after that and before, but it’s broken up into two separate times.  They can be happy moments, moments that bring a smile to a face, a fluttering in their chest, can make even the darkest moments better.  They can also be horrible moments, dark cloying feelings and things better left in the past.

 

Sawamura Daichi had two big moments in his life happen, there was the time before and a time after.  They both happened to fall in the same day when he was just 18 years old.

 

Moving to Tokyo was a big moment in Daichi’s life, meeting Kuroo Tetsurou was a bigger one.  They had been building mates, and Sawamura wasn’t sure if Kuroo saw something a bit terrified and lonely on Daichi’s face, but he swooped in and refused to let Daichi have any second doubts.  He was there to pull Daichi out of his dorm room, his comfort zone, showed him the best, and cheapest, restaurants, made sure Daichi made it to his first classes on time and in the right buildings, and introduced Sawamura to a whole new group of people.

 

Daichi had grown up with heavy responsibilities tied around his neck, had easily accepted the fact that he had to grow up, that he couldn’t be much of a kid or a teenager.  It had been an easy role for Daichi to fill, the responsible, hard working son.  The diligent student.  The stalwart captain.

 

Kuroo never let Daichi fall too hard into that old role, let him be a dumb teenager sometimes.  Let him make mistakes and get in trouble without burying him under a load of guilt.

 

It was a Saturday half way through their semester when Kuroo dragged Daichi to see his best friends favorite J-Pop stars perform.  It had been an absolute madhouse at the venue, Kuroo had pressed close, curling a finger through one of Daichi’s belt loops and saying it was so they didn’t get separated.  His smirk made Daichi wonder if he was being lied to but they had already lost Bokuto in the crush.  After several songs Kuroo had asked Daichi if he wanted to grab some air, or more like shouted it in his ear.  Daichi had been torn, he enjoyed the press of Kuroo against his side, the way the taller teenager had to bend down and press his mouth to Daichi’s ear to be heard above the noise.  But it was loud and Daichi only knew one of the songs they had played so they pushed their way out and stumbled into fresh air.

 

They had been laughing, Daichi had leant against the side of the building and was staring up at the starless sky as he laughed and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans.  He had just about to speak to Kuroo, something about the stars, but Kuroo was suddenly crowding him and pressing his lips, gently and softly, against Daichi’s.

 

As quick as Kuroo had pushed close, he backed off apologizing and looking kind of sick.  Daichi had pressed a hand to his mouth before reaching out to pull Kuroo back, to press up against the taller teen and to actually get a proper kiss out of him.

 

Kuroo had made a noise, a surprised-pleased sound before he was pushing Daichi up against the wall, cupping the back of Daichi’s head to protect it from the scratchy bricks behind him.  The kiss had been slow and tentative, soft and kind and everything Daichi’s sloppy, botched first kiss when he had been 15 had not been.

 

They had laughed quietly, softly as the sun set around them.  They could hear the loud music from inside the venue and there was a cold bite in the air now that the sun was gone but none of that really registered.  All Daichi saw, all he felt was Kuroo’s tall, lean frame leaning down, pressing their foreheads together as they kissed each other chastely in between bouts of happy laughter.

 

They both had early morning practice so they left after the show was done, finding Bokuto by chance and laughing as he introduced the couple of girls he had easily befriend when he lost sight of Kuroo and Daichi.  Kuroo had kissed Daichi goodbye behind Bokuto’s back, quick with that smirk of his in place.  Daichi had punched him in the shoulder before walking into his dorm and holding his two fisted hands up in the air, classic victory pose where no one could see him.

 

That was a defining moment, that first kiss outside a J-Pop performance that Daichi didn’t even know.  It was wonderful and a little ridiculous and silly.  There was the time before Daichi had kissed Kuroo Tetsurou, and a time after.

 

The second defining moment happened when Daichi found his phone.  He had forgotten it earlier, a thing he had never done as a responsible son before but happened more often than not.  He called his parents every Tuesday evening, right before they would sit down for dinner, and they hardly ever called any other time.

 

Except that Saturday night during the middle of Daichi’s first semester at college in Tokyo.

 

There were 10 missed text messages, 7 missed calls, and two voice mails.  Daichi had hurriedly called his mother back, fear making him feel like everything was slowing down, dragging out every second.

 

“Daichi, we need you to come back home.”  His mother had said when she picked up.

 

The youngest Sawamura male, Daichi’s 14 year old brother, had been in a car accident.  It had been bad and Sawamura was shoving things into his duffel bag without any real thought process to it.  He caught a late train and his older sister had picked him up from the train station, driving them both to the hospital in complete silence.

 

It was at the hospital that Daichi learned how ill his brother was, how he had stolen the family car and ended up wrapping it around a tree.  No one had wanted to tell him because they didn’t want him to worry while he was away at work but now his mother would have to take care of his younger brother and wouldn’t be able to help out on the farm.

 

The oldest Sawamura child had just had her first baby and couldn’t help out either besides a couple hours here and there a few days a week.

 

There was the time before Daichi learned about his brother's illness and the time after.

 

Daichi dropped out of college, apologized to his coach and thanked him for the sports scholarship and the opportunity.  He briefly talked to Kuroo, kept his calm and refused to let himself break after he hung up.

 

Daichi took over most of the work on the farm.  His father had arthritis from doing hard labor his entire life so it seemed only natural to take as much of the work as he could.  The days were long and blurred together, the nights spent making sure his parents got rest, entertaining his bed-bound little brother.

 

Seven months later the disease took the youngest Sawamura child from them all.  He held it together, let his mother and his sister and his father all fall apart.  He let them cry and tucked them into bed while he sat in the hallway, staring at his brothers room.  When the sun rose Daichi pushed himself up and went to work, not surprised when his father didn’t join him.

 

A heart attack killed Daichi’s father a month later, though some people claimed it was a broken heart that killed him.  Daichi got up the next day, walked into the shed that housed all their tools and let himself break down.

 

There was a time before that Saturday when Sawamura Daichi was 18, but that hardly mattered to the 26 year old version who had lost half his family in one year.

 

“Daichi, can we speak for a moment?”  His mother asked him, his sister leaning against the counter behind her while his little niece colored in the living room while watching cartoons.

 

“I’m sorry mom but I really have to harvest the vegetables if I’m bringing them to the market this weekend.”  Daichi said as he made his way automatically to the front door.

 

“Daichi come sit down and talk to your mother for five minutes.”  Daichi’s sister snapped.  Ever since she had her two children she had really gotten rather bossy, but Daichi listened anyways and sat down across from them.

 

“Listen Daichi, I’m selling the farm.”  Daichi sat up straighter at that.  “You’ve done so much for this family, sacrificed everything for us and I can’t watch you do this to yourself anymore.  You never had an interest in farming and I tried to make it work for so many years but your brothers hospital and doctor bills wiped us out.”

 

“I can do more to help, I can get a night job-” Daichi offered quickly but his mother cut him off with a raised hand.

 

“It’s already been settled and I’m going to go live with my sister for a while.”  Daichi bowed his head in shame, he couldn’t even provide for his own mother.  She reached across the table and Daichi put his own hands in hers, saw the ingrained dirt in his knuckles and the rough callouses on his palms.  “You are everything a mother could ever hope for in a child, you took care of us for so long and now it’s time for you to take care of yourself Daichi.  I’m not the only one who thought so, I kept these for so long because I thought they might hurt you but I see that was wrong of me now.”  She pulled back her hands before sliding anenvelopes over to him, Daichi’s name was on it.  The handwriting was achingly familiar.

 

“Reo wrote those for you about a month before he-” His sister looked away.  “He asked us all to help, I think he saw what we were all trying so hard to pretend wasn’t happening.  It was so much easier just to rely on you, to let you take care of everything and us and that wasn’t right of us.”

 

“I didn’t mind.”  Daichi answered back quickly, honestly.

 

“Which makes it even worse because we knew you would do the things we wouldn’t.”  His sister wiped at her eyes.  “It’s time for us to stand on our own two feet and for you to live your life.  You’re 26 Daichi!  It’s time you are allowed to act like it.”

 

Daichi took the letter back to his room.  He sat on his bed as he opened it carefully.

 

_ Dear Brother, I’m sorry I ruined your life and I know you’re going to say I didn’t, but I know I did.  I took wrecked the car and made myself sicker but I was just so angry.  Angry that I most likely wouldn’t see my 15th birthday or experience being a teenager.  Now stuck in bed and only able to watch as everything happens around me I realized I wasn’t the only one deprived of being a teenager.  I’m sorry I took that away from you and I hope this makes up for it, at least a little bit.  Please don’t feel guilty, I’m already dead bro!  But if you really want to go down that road then I will totally guilt you into following the directions in these letters, yes letters, as in more than just this one.  Hopefully moms given the second one to Suga, who you have to go see to get the letter. Love, Reo. _

 

Daichi felt tears slide down his cheeks as he closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing.  He had never once blamed Reo, he had been a scared kid facing down death.  But he had never expected this, never expected his mother and sister to be on board with it, for them to sell the farm.

 

It took Daichi a week until he dragged himself over to Sugawara’s new house.  He could hear loud childish laughter from inside as he came up to the door and knocked on it.  It was a moment before Sugawara opened the door, face flushed but a wide smile in place.

 

“Took you long enough! Come in, come in.”  Sugawara ushered him inside quickly.

 

“I can come back if you’re busy.”  Daichi said hesitantly, he hadn’t really seen Sugawara in years and he didn’t have much contact with people except at the market.  It made him feel awkward and oafish.

 

“Nonsense, I’m always busy anyways and who knows when the next time you’d work up your courage to come back if I sent you away.”  Sugawara pushed and prodded Daichi into the kitchen, where Daichi could see two little boys drawing all over the walls.  “We’re painting them so we decided to have a little fun before that.”  Sugawara explained before pulling out a kettle to start making tea.

 

“They are so big now,” Daichi said because he felt like he should say something, remark on them somehow though he barely knew them, barely knew Sugawara for that matter.

 

“Well it has been a couple years since you’ve seen us.”  Sugawara said with a grin.

 

“I’m sorry-”

 

“Please Daichi, you don’t have anything to apologize for.”  Sugawara turned to the kids, as if he had a sixth sense which he may have now that he was a dad.  “Don’t push your brother.”

 

“But he’s drawing on my part!”  The littler boy whined.

 

“You have an entire living room to draw on, I’m sure you can get another area.”  Sugawara turned back to Daichi with an eye roll.  “I swear it’s like Hinata and Kageyama all over again.  One day they are best friends and the next they are at each other's throats.”  Daichi smiled, relaxing a bit into his chair at the counter.

 

“Did you catch them at the olympics?  They are more monsters now than ever.”  Daichi thanked Sugawara for the tea put in front of him.

 

“That’s true, but you’re not here to discuss our old juniors.”  Sugawara leaned against the counter, smiling softly.  “You’re here for you letter, which I don’t actually have.  Hear me out, I gave it to the real person it was meant for.  Your little brother was amazingly clever,  but he thought we were together, or we had been together.”  The doorbell rang and Sugawara stood up.  “That should be him!  I told him you’d be here yesterday so he had to go get a hotel, shame on you for keeping us all waiting.”  He grinned as he strode towards the door, Daichi standing up in confusion as he heard two male voices talking before Sugawara was walking back, a tall figure following close behind.

 

“Hey Daichi, it’s been a while.”  That smirk was the same though slightly different, slightly softer.

 

“Kuroo?”  Sawamura asked in confusion, glancing over at Sugawara but the other man was kneeling between his son's, drawing a big tree as they both watched in amazement.  Sawamura’s eyes were drawn back to Kuroo.  “What’s going on?”

 

“Ah- I think this might explain some things.”  Kuroo moved forward, hand outstretched and holding an envelope.  Daichi took it carefully, opened it though he didn’t really want to in front of so many people incase he broke down like he had with the last one.

 

_ Hey big brother, I’m glad you made it!  I knew you would.  So here’s what I want you to do next, pack up a bag and take a trip with Suga.  I know it’s been a while but when two people are meant to be, they are meant to be and getting some fresh air and seeing some sights is just what you need.  Suga has a list of places I’ve always wanted to see, so go and see them!  Taste the food, swim in the ocean, get lost in the city- do it for me but more importantly, do it for you too.  Love, Reo. _

 

Daichi rubbed at the back of his neck, wished he had shaved or put on nicer clothes.  Maybe a shirt that didn’t have a permanent grease stain on it or pants that weren’t ripped.  Kuroo on the other hand looked great.  He was still tall and lean, though somehow he looked fuller.  His features were still sharp, his eyes still lit with a silent amusement but there was something warmer about him, softer.

 

“I’m sorry Kuroo, you don’t have to do this.”  Daichi apologized quickly, watched as Kuroo’s eyebrows were raised and it was then that Daichi realized he could see Kuroo’s eyebrows, that his hair was cut shorter so his long bangs no longer fell into his eye but across his forehead instead.

 

“I mean I am kind of insulted that your little brother though Suga was the love of your life but I’m game if you don’t mind a substitute.”  Kuroo shrugged his shoulders, not looking phased at all.  Daichi wondered how long Sugawara and Kuroo had discussed this, why Kuroo dropped everything to come here.

 

“But what about work?  I heard you were playing in Italy.”  Kuroo grinned a little wider as Daichi revealed he had been keeping tabs on him.

 

“I was but I came back when I needed surgery on my elbow so I’ve got some free time.”  Kuroo stepped closer, eyes searching Daichi’s face.  “If you go with Suga you’ll have to take all the Sugawara’s and that little one is a biter.”

 

“We’re working on that.”  Sugawara apologized as he sat back and watched his two sons try and replicate the large and rather beautiful tree he had drawn.

 

“I’ve got time and a car, it’s a piece of shi-ooting star am I bad at that.”  Kuroo glanced over at the kids but they were too occupied with their drawings to pay Kuroo’s almost-slip any mind.  “It can get us from point A to point B and the back seat is big. For sleeping, I meant for sleeping, though for other- no?  Just sleeping then.  If we can’t find a cheap motel.  I’m going to shut up now.”  Daichi laughed and suddenly felt more at ease with the man his old friend had become but that little slip up showed Daichi that he was the same old Kuroo.  Smooth and suave until he was allowed to talk for too long and then he tripped all over himself.

 

“Is this really okay?”  Daichi asked, just to be sure.

 

“Go already!”  Sugawara shouted, fed up.  Same old Sugawara, sweet until pushed too far.  Daichi looked over at Kuroo, who grinned confidently.

  
“Ready for an adventure Daichi?”

**Author's Note:**

> So this was for Day Six of KuroDai Week, but I did the first prompt Distance and wanted to come back to this prompt 'Travel' because who doesn't like a good road trip?


End file.
